The Runaway
by NamiNavigator
Summary: Naruto is taken as a baby by Genma to be trained with Jiraiya. Follow his path as he returns 12 years later...
1. Running

**Nami: I wanted to start the next chapter of this, but I decided to review the first chapter again. I haven't changed much, but I think it makes a bit more sense now. You should get the next chapter either today or tomorrow.  
**

**Patrick: Nami doesn't own Naruto. She does now own a pair or crutches, due to a possible fractured ankle.**

**Nami: ...Hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

Minato Namikaze looked at the chaos around him wildly. He needed to find Genma quickly. He saw the man, senbon discarded, running around near to the beast's foot trying to organise the ninja.

"Genma! Get over here! I need your help!" The jounin immediately discarded his duties to go and assist the Hokage.

"What is it Hokage-sama?" Minato glanced around, then waved for Genma to follow him. The pair ran through the streets of Konoha until they arrived at the Hokage's house.

Genma was confused. "Hokage-sama, I know your wife is pregnant, but this is not the time!" Minato stared at him, his face dark.

"Kushina is not pregnant. She has had our son, Naruto." Genma was confused.

"Then why are we here?" Minato just shook his head and entered.

Kushina looked fearfully at her husband. "Does it have to be like this?" she asked, tears streaming down her face.

Minato grimaced, and nodded. "The village or a child. Genma, what would you choose?"

The jounin looked from Kushina to Minato to the blonde baby lying in Kushina's arms. "No!" he gasped. "You can't-"

Minato held up a hand. "Genma, he's my son. He's only hours old. Do you think I wanted this?" Tears flowed down Minato's face.

"But I have to. To protect my home." He wiped away his tears.

"But I still want Naruto to have a happy life. I know he won't have that here. People will treat him as the beast to find someone to blame for their losses. So he won't stay here."

Genma looked at Minato. "What do you mean?"

The Yondaime sighed. "I'm going to use a sealing technique to seal the Kyuubi in Naruto. The Shinigami will take my soul as payment. Once I've gone, you will take Naruto and run. Run as far away as you can and find Jiraiya. You two must train my son to be the best ninja he can be."

"But you must never lie to him about himself, or his heritage. Teach him my techniques Genma, and give him the best chance in life. But you must return one day for Naruto to become a ninja. Promise me you'll do this Genma."

Genma stuttered. "I- I- I promise. I will not fail you sensei."

Minato smiled wistfully. "Good. Then, we must go. Kushina, I'm sorry. Please?"

His red-haired wife reluctantly handed over their son. As they left she followed. Genma was about to say something, but Minato looked at him as if to say, "Don't. Just, don't."

The scene from the village was incredible. The ninja and villagers watched as the Hokage, his wife and another appeared on the top of the Hokage tower.(A/N: I didn't know where they were. I wanted somewhere high.)

The Hokage made several hand signs, yelled and slammed his palms to the ground. The Kyuubi roared as a dark figure appeared. The villagers watched as their poor Hokage and the beast were pulled into the dark space. Nobody noticed that roughly half of the Kyuubi's chakra was flowing into a small bundle in Genma's arms.

Kushina screamed as she saw the beast about to break through. She threw herself at the rift, sealing it once and for all.

Genma began to run as soon as the rift closed. He ignored all the cries of relief, sadness and despair and headed towards the gate. The chuunin gate guards had long since left to fight the Kyuubi.

Genma looked down at the baby in his arms as he ran. He now had three whisker like scars on each cheek; the sign of him being a Jinchuuriki. The child was sleeping now, unaware of what lat dormant inside of him. _"Naruto…" _thought Genma. _"I promise… You'll have the best life we can give you…"_

* * *

Naruto walked along the path towards Konoha with his mentor, Genma. Genma said that this was where he'd been born. He hadn't been in the village for 12 years, and had no memories of it.

Genma watched the boy as he shifted. He hadn't expected Naruto to be so agreeable to coming to Konoha. On the other hand, he did really want to become a ninja. After being told his heritage and what he contained, Naruto had seemed even more determined to follow in his parents footsteps.

Naruto was only going to the Genin exams as a formality. Because of his training with the former Hokage Guard and the current toad Sannin, Naruto would be a lot more powerful than any of his teammates. He was high chuunin, or low jounin level. When he unlocked the Kyuubi's chakra, he could probably go toe to toe with someone like Kakashi Hatake.

Also, due to Jiraiya teaching him Kage Bunshin, Naruto had about 10 extra years of knowledge crammed into his skull.

Naruto shuffled his feet slightly, looking at the worn path in front of him. He started as he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked to see Genma's kind face smiling down at him.

"What are you so worried about?" asked the jounin. Naruto shrugged, then looked nervous.

"What if they don't like me? What if they hate me and no-one wants to be my friend? What should I do Genma?"

Genma laughed. "Naruto, if you're yourself and you're kind to people, then you'll make lots of friends. And, since I'm staying, you can ask me for help if you need anything."

Genma patted Naruto's shoulder and removed his hand. "Come along. We're almost there."

As they reached the gates of Konoha, Naruto lifted his gaze to stare at his surroundings. He could see why Konoha was the Hidden Leaf Village. Over half of the nearby area was woodlands, and there were more plants than Naruto had ever seen.

Naruto turned around as he heard someone calling his name. Genma was waving him over.

"Come on, we can go in! We have to go see the Hokage first. Then you can do what you like. Oh, after finding some apartments of course."

Naruto nodded, jumping after the jounin. It only took a few moments for the pair to arrive at the door. Naruto looked longingly up to the window. Genma facepalmed.

"I knew I shouldn't have let Jiraiya influence you like that. Man, the Hokage's gonna kill me." Naruto snickered at the comment. They entered through the door, stopped for a moment to talk to the Hokage's assistant, then knocked on the door of the office.

* * *

Hiruzen Sarutobi was looking through his paperwork. Again. He was about to take out a bottle of sake to drown his sorrows, when a letter caught his eye. It was addressed to 'Sensei'. That left three options.

He opened the letter, scanning through the contents. _"Jiraiya… Not coming home any time soon… Sending Genma back… Who's alive by the way… Naruto's coming home too… Wait, Naruto?!"_ Hiruzen reread the letter, then slammed his fist onto the desk.

"_Damn you Jiraiya! You should have told me before. Naruto Namikaze… No, Naruto Uzumaki. We can't have him gaining his father's enemies. Although, from what Jiraiya says, he'll gain his own soon enough."_

Hiruzen was about to begin filing more paperwork, when there was a knock on the door. "Come in." he said, absentmindedly.

The door swung open to reveal a senbon chewing ninja in jounin clothes, followed by a young boy.

The boy was blonde, with bright blue eyes and three whisker marks adorning each cheek. He was wearing black combat trousers and a long sleeve black fishnet with a blue vest top. The vest top had a small orange fox curled up in the centre, its tail curling around its face.

Hiruzen gaped for a second, then rearranged himself to the demeanour of a Hokage. "Hello Genma. It's good to see you back." The old man turned to the blonde boy. "And this must be Naruto. It's nice to meet you."

Naruto blushed, and Genma nudged him. "Um, it's nice to meet you too jiji." Hiruzen smiled.

"Why did you call me that?" Naruto blushed again.

"Was I not meant to? Jiraiya said you were like my grandfather, so I thought…" Naruto trailed off.

Hiruzen laughed. "Trust Jiraiya to say that. Anyway, Naruto, you'll start in the academy tomorrow. Is that okay? Oh, and I have the keys to your apartment here." Naruto just nodded to everything the Hokage had to say.

Once Hiruzen had finished discussing things with Genma, he was about to tell the pair to leave, when Naruto spoke up again. "Jiji, does anyone in Konoha know that I have the Kyuubi? Or, that the beast even survived after my dad tried to seal it in me?

Hiruzen paled. The boy knew everything? He glanced at Genma, and back to Naruto. Both had very calm looks on their faces. He coughed.

"Well, many ninja knew what the Hokage attempted to do. Nobody except me, Genma and Jiraiya knew that you were the Hokage's son. Also, most of the ninja's presumed you died soon after, from the pressure of the chakra inside you. Even I though that you had died. So, the ninja's will know who you are, but I will put out an order for them not to speak of it. Of course, this does not apply to you, and you may tell whomsoever you wish."

Naruto beamed. "Okay!" he said. The blonde nearly bounded out of the room. Hiruzen looked after him, bemused. Genma was struggling to contain his laughter.

"He's rather positive." said the Hokage. Genma stopped trying not to laugh and put on a slightly more serious face.

"Yes, but it's sort of a mask." Hiruzen turned to look at him. "Naruto, even though we tried, has never had a family. He treats me as his older brother, and sees Jiraiya as an uncle figure, but we can't replace his parents."

Hiruzen nodded as Genma continued to speak. "When you add onto that how many people Naruto has killed, he has to put on a happy mask, or his emotions will tear him apart."

The Hokage was shocked to hear that Naruto had killed already. He asked Genma what had happened.

"The first time was when Naruto was 5. It had been his birthday about a week before, and Jiraiya had bought him a set of kunai. He wanted to be a ninja, even at such a young age. We'd set him up to practise throwing them, while Jiraiya and I went to buy some supplies."

"Unknown to us, a ninja that was following Jiraiya had decided to take Naruto hostage so he could bargain. We hadn't been gone long when we heard a scream, and rushed back to see what was wrong. We arrived just in time to see Naruto struggle out of the man's grip and stab him in the stomach. The ninja died a few moments after."

Genma sighed. "Naruto was 5 when he made his first kill. He started to scream, and wouldn't stop thrashing about. He's killed dozens since then. Lots of ninja are after Jiraiya, so we were often attacked. Naruto would normally be the ideal hostage. But, we decided that after the first attack, we would begin his training in earnest."

The Hokage nodded. "So, what level is he?" Genma smiled. The Hokage was in for the shock of his life.

"High chuunin."

Hiruzen nodded, thinking. Then, his ears reminded his brain what Genma had just said. "WHAT?"

"You heard right. Naruto can nearly beat me in an all out spar. He can go toe-to-toe with Jiraiya for about 5 minutes, but Naruto - although his stamina is insane - is still a child. Jiraiya wears him down after a while. He could be classed higher, but his genjutsu skills suck compared to his overall level. With Kyuubi's chakra, he's probably mid jounin."

The Hokage sat in his seat, gobsmacked. Then, he started to laugh. The council were going to get the surprise of their life. Sasuke Uchiha, Rookie of the Year. His ego was frustrating. Hopefully, Naruto could help out by knocking it down a peg or two.

"Okay then Genma. You will be reinstated as a jounin, and I'm sure Naruto will have a great time in the academy. Oh, but if you could tell him to try and keep the power down, then that would be good."

Genma chuckled, then threw the Hokage a salute and left, picking up Naruto from behind the door. Hiruzen sat back in his seat and chuckled. Stuff the paperwork. With these two back, maybe this year wouldn't be as boring as he thought…

* * *

Naruto fiddled with his hair as he was introduced to his teacher, Iruka. The chuunin had a scar across his nose, and seemed very nice. Iruka was telling him that the genin exams were to be held in a week. Until then, Naruto would learn with the rest of the class.

He took Naruto's shoulder and led him into the classroom. "Okay guys!" he shouted. "Today, we have a new student. His name is Naruto. Please try and be nice to him!" Iruka turned to Naruto. "Okay then, you can take the seat next to Sasuke." Iruka mentally cringed as he pointed to the Uchiha. Unfortunately, it was the only free seat in the class.

Many of the girls' eyes followed him to his seat. Lots of Sasuke's fan girls were having a mental battle with themselves. And who could blame them?

Naruto was wearing a black skin-tight t-shirt, which showed off his muscled chest. The muscles on his arms were obvious, even when relaxed. His hair was an amazing shade of blonde, and his blue eyes seemed to light up whatever he was looking at. Even the whisker like marks on his cheeks gave him an attractive feral look.

Sasuke, who had noticed some of his fan girls shaking their heads, glanced at the blonde who was approaching. _"Doesn't look anything special to me."_ he thought.

Naruto reached the seat and sat down, smiling at Sasuke. The black haired Uchiha merely nodded to Naruto, then turned away.

Naruto looked a little confused, and then shrugged. It wasn't his business. Naruto turned around to listen to Iruka. The chuunin was reminding everyone on the principles of henge. Once he'd finished, he asked everyone to line up and perform the jutsu. First were the girls, then the boys. Most pupils performed it perfectly, with a few mistakes here and there.

Finally, it was Naruto's turn. "Okay Naruto, same rules. First henge into me, then into anyone you choose."

Naruto nodded. He performed the seals for the henge, then transformed into a perfect copy of Iruka. The real Iruka nodded his head.

"Very good Naruto. Now, pick someone to henge into." Naruto thought for a moment, then repeated the hand seals.

Once the smoke cleared, Iruka could see who Naruto had transformed into. Jiraiya of the Sannin. Many of the students were whispering, unsure of whom the man was.

Iruka smiled. "Okay guys! Does anyone apart from Naruto know who that is?" Two hands went up. One belonged to a pink-haired kunoichi and the other to a guy with black hair who looked half asleep.

Iruka picked the girl. "Sakura."

"That is one of the Densetsu no Sannin, Jiraiya. He is also known as the Toad Sage."

Iruka smiled. "Very good Sakura. Naruto, you can go." Naruto nodded and dropped the henge, then returned to his seat.

Sasuke leaned over and whispered to Naruto, the first thing he'd said since he arrived. "How do you know what one of the Sannin looks like? Or are you just a geek?"

Naruto smiled. "That's for me to know and for you to find out." Sasuke grunted and ignored Naruto once again.

* * *

The rest of the week passed quickly and smoothly for Naruto. He was settling in to his new home. Today was the day of the genin exam, and Naruto was excited. He couldn't wait.

Once everyone had entered, Iruka announced the first test. It was a written test on the history of Konoha. The top scores in the class went to Sakura, with 46/50, Sasuke, with 48/50 and Naruto, who had full marks.

The second test was on genjutsu. Students had to break a genjutsu and then place one onto a teacher. Iruka, who wanted to test Naruto, deliberately made Naruto's genjutsu harder to break. The boy took a few moments, then broke it with ease. Naruto placed a very subtle genjutsu onto Iruka.

In fact, it was so subtle that Iruka didn't notice until he looked at Naruto and saw that his hair had turned green. Iruka glanced around; sniggering at the inventive colours Naruto had dyed everyone's hair.

The third test was on academy techniques. Each student had to perform henge, bunshin and kawarimi. This test went fairly straightforward.

The fourth test was for ninjutsu. This part wasn't compulsory, but it could boost your grades. Everyone who wanted to participate lined themselves up in front of a training dummy.

Sasuke destroyed his with a Katon jutsu, other clan heirs using their signature moves to destroy the dummy.

Finally, it was Naruto's turn. Everyone was watching in anticipation as Naruto performed seals and then yelled, "**Suiton: Mizu doriru!**" A cylinder of water formed in Naruto's hand, about the thickness of a pencil.

Naruto drove it into the dummy. When he removed his hand, Sasuke began to laugh. All that showed was a small hole in the front of the dummy. "Didn't work as well as you thought, huh?"

Naruto smiled. "No, it worked perfectly. Look." Naruto walked to the dummy and pulled it so it crashed face fist into the ground.

Now the true devastation could be seen. Naruto's just had ripped a gaping hole in the back of the dummy. If that had been a real person, then their insides would have looked like they'd been through a blender.

Sasuke gaped. And he wasn't the only one. The same thought was running through their minds: _"How the hell did he do that?!"_

Iruka coughed. "Okay, now that that part of the exam is over, we will move on to taijutsu spars. The first spar is between Yamashita Aiko and Isoya Sachiyo…"

The spars were fairly uneventful, most ending within a few minutes. When it came to the last spar, everyone was holding their breath in anticipation. Naruto Uzumaki verses Sasuke Uchiha…

Before today, everyone would have said that Sasuke would win. But with the impressive show of Naruto's skills, even Sasuke's most loyal fan girls were having second thoughts.

When Iruka gave the command to begin, Sasuke jumped straight at Naruto, aiming to knock him out with a single hit. Naruto didn't move until the last second, then shifted his upper body so that the Uchiha flew straight past him.

Sasuke twisted to land on his feet and growled. He threw himself at Naruto once again. This time, Naruto grabbed his wrist as he flew past and slammed him into the ground, punching him in the gut to finish. Sasuke gasped as the breath was knocked out of him completely.

Iruka waited a moment, then declared the match. "The winner is Naruto Uzumaki!"

The entire class broke out in whispers. Iruka coughed to gain attention, then called the class back inside. Once in, he announced the results of the test.

"Here are the teams that made it through. Team Seven will consist of Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno and Kiba Inuzuka. Your sensei is Kurenai Yuhi. Team 8 is Sasuke Uchiha, Hinata Hyuuga and Shikamaru Nara. Your sensei is Kakashi Hatake. Team 9 is still in circulation, so we will skip to Team 10. Chouji Akimichi, Shino Aburame and Ino Yamanaka, sensei is Asuma Sarutobi. All that remains is for me to wish you good luck as shinobi of Konoha!"

* * *

**Nami: So there it is. I think I made Naruto's level a little bit clearer. Oh, and I think someone asked me in a review about the teams, so I'll explain that now.**

**The teams in canon are specialised: Team 7 is a power team, Team 8 is a tracking team and Team 10 was created for clan reasons. I thought that it might be better if you divided the teams and gave them each a person from each area: strength, tracking and intelligence.**

**Team 7 has Naruto (strength), Sakura (intelligence) and Kiba (tracking). Kiba could also be classed as strength, but there were too many of those, so I used his tracking instead. Kurenai is their sensei because of a couple of reasons. The council still wanted Kakashi to teach Sasuke, so that was out. And Kurenai just seemed to fit. Also, she will be able to help Naruto with his genjutsu.  
**

**Team 8 has Sasuke (strength), Hinata (tracking) and Shikamaru (intelligence). I still wanted the one girl two boys thing, and I thought that Hinata would be good in this team. Also, my friends don't think that I can make SasuHina in a fanfic, so this is me flipping them off. Kakashi is their sensei because of what I said earlier.  
**

**Team 10 has Chouji (strength), Shino (tracking) and Ino (intelligence). I know Ino isn't shown as the sharpest tool in the box in canon, but I need her to be here. Plus, since Naruto arrived, the fangirls have been rethinking their crushes, so that should help. Asuma is their sensei because he's the only one left.  
**

**Hope that explains things!**

**Patrick: That was long.**

**Nami: Whatever. Review please! Cookies for everyone who does. n_n Have a nice day.**

**P.S. I changed my smiley! n_n**


	2. Talking

**Nami: Yo! As promised, a new chapter. Sorry for the wait! Also, thanks to all my reviewers! **

**Cookies go to: shyguy1818, Shadow Silverpen, NarutoLuver896, charles cdv, , Bob, ougley, Decimus1, sortofbored, axolots, ivyknightfire, RockgirlLuvsFanfic and anyone else who reviewed but didn't leave a name.**

**Patrick: Can I have a cookie too?**

**Nami: No. Hurry up.**

**Patrick: *sigh* Nami does not own Naruto in any way, which is good, because it would never release new chapters.**

**Nami: Oi! Anyway, hope you enjoy it readers!**

* * *

The young ninja had gathered into their groups and were introducing themselves to their new teammates. Team 7 had manoeuvred into a corner at the back of the room. Naruto nodded to Kiba and Sakura, smiling nervously. Kiba struck up a conversation.

"Hey, how did you get so good? That was amazing man!" Naruto scratched the back of his head.

"I was trained since I was little, so I've had loads of time. If you trained as much as I did, you'd be better than you are as well."

Kiba was about to shout indignantly at the boy, then noticed his nervous demeanour, and how there had been no malice in his words. He had simply said what he thought was true.

The Inuzuka frowned. "Hey, you don't get out much, do you?"

Naruto shook his head. "We were always travelling, so I never got a chance to make friends. Even if I did, it wasn't for long."

Sakura, who had been listening in, smiled. "Well, you can make new friends now. Right?" Naruto nodded.

Sakura smiled again, then went back to watching Sasuke.

Naruto nudged Kiba. "Hey, what's with that Sasuke guy anyway?" Kiba snorted.

"Sasuke Uchiha? He _was_ the prodigy of the academy, at least until you came along. The whole village thinks he's some sort of hero because he survived the Uchiha Massacre when Itachi – that's Sasuke's older brother – went nuts and killed the whole clan except Sasuke. And now Sasuke is a stuck up prick who has crowds of fangirls following him everywhere he goes. Although..." Kiba trailed off as he noticed several pairs of eyes focused on their corner.

"I don't think Sasuke will have such a big problem with you here."

Naruto looked confused."What do you mean?"

Kiba chuckled and patted his arm. "You'll find out."

The graduates all looked up as they heard the door open. In the frame stood a kunoichi with long black hair and red eyes. She was wearing a white wrap dress with a red sleeve and a fishnet top. She also had bandages on her wrists and hands and was wearing standard shinobi sandals. Her hitai-ate was resting on her forehead.

Next to her was a slightly taller man, with a standard green vest and black underclothes. He also had his hitai-ate on his forehead, the black material it was attached to blending with his black hair and beard. He had a cigarette between his lips and had a grin on his face.

The woman spoke first. "Team 7, you're with me."

Then the man. "Team 10, you're stuck with me. Oh, and Team 8? You might want to come back in an hour. Kakashi has a habit of being a couple of hours late to everything."

The two other teams stood up and followed their jounin instructors, while Team 8 resigned themselves to their fate.

* * *

Team 7 followed Kurenai to one of the many training grounds scattered about the village. She made them sit down.

"Now, lets do some introductions. Say your name, likes, dislikes, hobbies and hopes for the future. I'll start. My name is Kurenai Yūhi, I like training and spending time with my friends. I dislike people who think that women shouldn't be ninja. My hobbies include training and pottery. My hope for the future is that I will be able to turn all of you into great ninja! Okay, you're next."

She finished her introduction, pointing to Kiba. "My name's Kiba Inuzuka, and this is Akamaru. I like spending time with Akamaru. I hate cats and baths. My hobbies are looking after Akamaru and helping at the kennels, and my hope for the future is that me and Akamaru can show everyone how great a team we are!" The little white dog hiding inside his jacket barked in agreement.

Kurenai nodded and pointed to Sakura. The pink-haired girl was distracted and didn't notice until Naruto poked her. "Huh? Oh! Ano, my name is Sakura Haruno. I like..." Sakura was about to go into fangirl mode when she saw Naruto looking intently at her. She blushed slightly and changed her mind. "I like flowers, I dislike people who are mean or bullies. My hobbies are... ano... painting, and... shopping. My dream for the future is to become a medic-nin, even better than Tsunade-sama."

Kurenai smiled as she realised what had made Sakura change what she was going to say. The blonde in question was fidgeting in his seat nervously. Kurenai moved her finger to point at him. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. ...I like spending time with oji-san and Genma-nii. I dislike people who hurt others for no reason. My hobbies include training and eating ramen. My hope for the future... I... I want to be the best Hokage ever." Kurenai tilted her head as she inspected the nervous blonde. The she smiled widely.

"Well, you all sound like you're going to be a wonderful team. Now, I want you to meet me here tomorrow at 8. You'll be doing a test to see if you can become genin."

"WHAT?!" Kiba shouted. "I thought we just did the test!"

Kurenai sighed. "Calm down Kiba. That was a test to see if you had the skills. This test will see if you can put them into a real life situation. Now go on. You're dismissed."

Sakura turned to Naruto, wanting to speak with him before he left, only to find that he was already gone. She pouted and stamped her foot. "Damn! Now I have to find him."

She ran off, leaving Kiba alone with Kurenai. The kunoichi quickly shunshined away. Kiba sat down on the floor and held his head in his hands. "Why does everyone around me travel so fast?" he mumbled.

* * *

The next morning, Team 8 met again. Naruto had arrived at nearly quarter to eight, Sakura and Kiba following soon after. They sat on the floor by a stump, and Sakura was able to ask Naruto what she wanted to yesterday. She had searched for nearly an hour after he left, but hadn't even found a single trace of the boy.

"Naruto, who were you travelling with before you got to the village? Weren't your parents there?"

Naruto shook his head sadly. "No. My parents died just after I was born. Genma-nii and Jiraiya-oji said that they were very nice people though."

Sakura's ears had pricked halfway through the sentence. "Jiraiya-oji? Do you mean Jiraiya the Sannin?"

"Ano... Yes? Is that wrong?"

"Well... it's not wrong as such. It's just... surprising."

Kiba prodded Naruto irritably. "Oi, who is this Jiraiya guy? Why are you talking about him like that?"

Sakura sighed. "Kiba, you really should pay attention in lessons. Jiraiya-sama is one of the Densetsu no Sannin. They're the three greatest ninja of their generation, and they can all summon different animals. However, they all left the village at some point."

Kiba nodded, his mouth hanging open. "Oh. That guy trained Naruto? No wonder you're strong."

Naruto shrugged. "It was more Genma-nii that trained me. Oji-san had to do a lot of work for the village, so he wasn't always around."

Kiba was about to say something else, but he was stopped by the arrival of Kurenai. She looked a little tired; she walked a little slower than usual and she seemed to be breathing a little heavily.

She stumbled over to them. Sakura was about to put a hand out and support her sensei, but she waved her off.

"Now, your test. You have three hours to find the shuriken I've hidden over the field. They all have a strip of bright pink paint on them, so you'll know if it's the right one. Anyone who doesn't find a shuriken by the end of the time will be sent back to the academy. You're also allowed to steal the shuriken off each other. Your time starts... now."

Kiba and Sakura sped off, but Naruto slowly walked away, inspecting his sensei. She looked... different somehow. And it wasn't the tiredness. Naruto shook his head and made his way into the trees.

* * *

Kiba was searching through the bushes, with Akamaru sniffing the ground by his side. It had been nearly an hour, and he hadn't found anything. "Come on!" he said. "I'm supposed to be the best tracker around! I'm an Inuzuka!"

He turned around to pick up Akamaru, when he noticed the dog was gone. "Akamaru? Where are you boy?" His voice echoed around the clearing. His sensitive ears picked up a whine and dashed towards it.

He ran for nearly two minutes until he found Akamaru. The tiny dog was lying in a puddle of blood, the gash on his side evident. Kiba fell to his knees beside his partner and placed his shaking hands on the wound, applying pressure in an attempt to stop the blood flow. Tears began to run down his face and he began to shake all over.

"N-no... Akamaru... Y-y-you can't die. You're my partner. We were supposed to show everyone how great we are!"

The little dog turned his head and gently licked Kiba's hand, before he heaved a final breath and his head fell to the floor.

A scream rang out in the trees, filled with so much sorrow that it caused Naruto and Sakura to pause in their search and glance around to see what had caused the noise. They both began to head towards the source.

In another area of the training ground, a sadistic smile spread across a face, and two words spilled out of a mouth. "It begins..."

* * *

**Nami: MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!**

**Patrick: Uuhh...**

**Nami: FEEL MY POWER! Ah, I love cliffhangers. I was going to make this longer, but I decided against it. I wanted a cliffhanger.**

**Patrick: This means you have to update sort of soon now. You know that?**

**Nami: Yeah, I'll do it for Thursday probably. Okay? Now review, or you don't get any cookies. PLEASE! REVIEWS HELP ME THINK! n_n Have a nice day.**


End file.
